Dubai: Inspired Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bowlers set the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on fire as they came out all guns blazing to help their team to a thumping 37-run win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 12th IPL match here on Wednesday night.
It was RR’s first defeat of the tournament while KKR registered their second win in three games.
While defending 174/6 in 20 overs, the KKR bowlers not only picked wickets at regular intervals but they were also quite economical as most of the RR batsman faltered. Barring Tom Curran, who scored a 36-ball 54 not out, the other RR batters succumbed against the clinical KKR bowlers.
For KKR, Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, and Varun Chakravarthy scalped two batsmen each and the trio received good support from Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, and KuldeepYadav, who all settled with a wicket each.
Put into bat by RR, KKR scored 174 for six wickets in 20 overs and while Steve Smith’s Rajasthan team made 137/9 wickets in 20 overs.
Chasing the target, half of the RR side was back to the pavilion with just 42 runs on board. The RR side suffered a top-order collapse as all their in-form batters — Smith (3), Sanju Samson (8), Jos Buttler (21), Robin Uthappa (2), and Riyan Parag (1) — fell cheaply.
Moreover, RR’s young batting sensation Rahul Tewatia, who was one of the architects of their previous win, failed to replicate the show as he fell for 14. That left RR reeling at 66/6.
